Traditionally, office and commercial work environments have been characterized by permanent or semipermanent space divider walls which define individual work areas. Such work areas have been furnished with furniture of the conventional type, that is, furniture entirely or substantially entirely independent of the walls. Conventional furniture design is often desirable because of the privacy it affords workers Such arrangements, however, are not without drawbacks and are considered in many ways undesirable for use in modern office and commercial environments.
First, although traditional office layout may be adequate under circumstances in which the requirements of the activities performed in the work area remain relatively static over long periods of time, under modern office and commercial conditions, such systems have proved inadequate. Modern office and commercial environments are typically characterized by activities which constantly change. This phenomenon results from, for example, the fact that what is considered as an appropriate working environment for a particular activity rapidly changes. In addition, the fundamentals of the activities themselves constantly change. Thus, the concept of using a "built-in" space dividing system and conventional furniture immediately creates a problem when a change is to be made. The cost and time requirements of changing the space divider system is often so great that the necessary and desirable changes are frequently not made. Indeed, the space divider scheme originally erected and the furnishings within the work areas defined by the scheme are often used long after they have obtained functional obsolescence because of the cost of reorganization and replacement necessary to restore functional utility.
Second, conventional office designs and the furniture associated therewith have been considered undesirable for use in modern office environments because of their inability to accommodate wiring associated with modern work tools, e.g., computers, telephone systems, etc. Functionally effective and aesthetically desirable wire management necessitates costly modification of the space divider walls. And, the furniture, such as the conventional freestanding desk, can not effectively manage the numerous cables associated with such equipment which necessitates the open exposure of such wiring from work surfaces to floor which is not only aesthetically undesirable but also dangerous to workers hurriedly moving in the work area.
To overcome the problems presented in the modern work environment by conventional furniture design, in the early 60s, work environment systems capable of rapid changeover from one arrangement to another were developed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,765, to Propst et al., issued Aug. 16, 1966, which discloses the concepts of the now well-known work environment system of the so-called "open-plan" type. Open plan work environment systems typically include a number of workstations defined by a plurality of freestanding walls generally detachably joined together in a number of ways to form workstations of varying size and configuration, with the walls serving as visual and audio barriers between the workstations. The freestanding walls not only subdivide the work area, but they also provide a means upon which functional components, such as work surfaces, cabinets and the like, can be mounted. The functional components can be positioned in a number of locations within the workstations to adapt the same to the demands of different activities. The functional components, while supported by the freestanding walls, are wholly independent of the same so that the components could be completely interchanged and installed for use with any one or more of the freestanding walls of the workstations. In addition, because the freestanding walls of the open plan office system are adapted to be rearranged from one pattern of organization to another, the workstations can be quickly changed over in size, shape, orientation and arrangement to adapt the work environment system to new requirements as the usage of the work space changes from time to time. Other open plan work environment systems particularly adapted for use in modern office environments are manufactured and sold by Applicant's assignee, Herman Miller, Inc., of Zeeland, Michigan, under the trademarks ACTION OFFICE and ETHOSPACE
The open plan office system has particular advantages over conventional office design in the manner in which it manages wiring of modern-day office equipment. Most commonly, the freestanding walls forming the workstations are provided with channels for housing such wiring. Because a typical open plan office system can include a network of freestanding walls spanning across a work area, wiring for electronic equipment utilized in the numerous workstations can be housed within the channels of the walls and thus hidden from view and in a position not to cause potential hazards to workers.
In addition, modern office designs can be include systems for organizing papers, folders, books, among other items normally associated with business activities. Because organization of work space in modern office systems is vital to work space efficiency and to obtaining a quality work product, a means in the work space which promotes such organization is very desirable. For example, open plan office systems have been known to include panels forming series of vertically spaced horizontal support rails having channels adapted to receive downwardly-depending hooks of work accessories to removably mount the work accessories to the rails. Conventional office designs do not specifically afford convenient placement of such rail-containing panels for access thereto by workers situated at conventional freestanding desks. Indeed, rails of similar type may be mounted to permanent interior walls spaced a relatively great distance from a worker's desk or incorporated within freestanding cabinetry positioned directly adjacent such permanent walls. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,274,687, to Bayles et al., and 4,174,486, to Winkler, issued Jun. 23, 1981 and Nov. 13, 1986, respectively, both of which disclose freestanding cabinetry incorporating series of horizontally stacked rails adapted to removably support work accessories.
The freestanding walls of open plan office systems provide a convenient support for work accessory support rails and thus have been so used. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,255, to Kelly et al., issued Aug. 11, 1987. In addition, work accessory support rails have been mounted into cabinets mountable to the freestanding walls as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,192, to Kelley, issued Oct. 21, 1986.
Although the open plan office furniture system has many advantages in that it is able to readily accommodate the demands of the modern-day work environment, it is not without its disadvantages. Most objected to is the detrimental psychological impact such furniture systems have on workers. Although the freestanding walls between workstations defined thereby were originally believed to positively affect worker morale by serving as visual and audio barriers between workstations and thus providing privacy to workers, it is now felt that placing workers in a maze of nearly identical work cubicles may actually lower worker morale. Such work environments are believed to have a "sterilizing" effect on workers who come to feel anonymous, resulting in a less than adequate work product. In addition, because the freestanding walls of the open plan modern office system are typically less than full height, one workstation defined by the walls may not be effectively insulated from sounds generated in a neighboring workstation.
Therefore, recently the dogmas of both the "conventional" office (rows of private offices with internal bull pens) and the "open" office (workers in a maze of cubicles) are drawing heavy criticism. It has been thus found desirable to provide a hybrid approach to office design which combines cellular offices, open plan workstations, freestanding furniture, full-height walls, departmental subdivisions, etc., into a heterogeneous interior space. It has been also desirable to provide such a hybrid which not only takes advantage of the positive attributes, e.g., privacy, flexibility, wire management, of both the conventional and open plan designs, but also eliminates as much as practicable the disadvantages. It has further been desirous to provide such heterogeneous system which is compatible with presently used open plan and conventional office systems.
For example, there has been provided freestanding desks having channels or wiring ducting beneath the desk tops and within the desk legs or pedestals as disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. Ball et al., 3,635,174, issued Jan. 18, 1972; Holper et al., 4,094,256, issued Jun. 13, 1978; Hildebrandt et al., 4,296,981, issued Oct. 27, 1981; and Ball, 4,323,291, issued Apr. 6, 1982.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an office system including freestanding desks providing the privacy afforded by conventional systems and the flexibility and wire and work accessory management associated with open plan designs and which is not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing.